that settles it...

how's this for disruption...

how about replacing hearing aids with an app? any smartphone with a pair of earbuds is all the hardware necessary to function as a hearing aid. also, it looks cool which can be important to kids especially.

there are different types of hearing loss, but what the priciest hearing aids do is to selectively amplify only the frequencies you have difficulty hearing. this is where a professional audiologist comes in. they will perform a battery of tests to determine your frequency response and program a hearing aid to your profile.

it is very tricky getting around the trained audiologist step because we need to make sure the customer is not destroying their remaining hearing by blasting themselves with too much volume.

keep in mind that the actual hearing aid is the same dsp that is in every single cell phone and likely costs less than $1.00 (us) but still they sell for thousands.

we're living in the future

recently in my town, there was a bank robbery. in an article about solving the case the police explained how they were able to piece together a very accurate timeline by looking at the surveillance cameras from small businesses in our tiny little downtown. noting when the robber's car drove by which store etc.

clearly the best response to this....

it's the flash

the reason that flash photography is usually banned is because the burst of light from a xenon flash tube (or an exploding flashbulb for the older readers) can actually damage certain pigments. the leap from 'no flash photography' to 'no photography' is because a huge percentage of folks with cameras have no idea how to turn off the flash so a few bad actors ruin it for everyone.

the best rationalization i can come up with is some fool doesn't want the fire exits gummed up with art students and their sketch pads, but it seems kinda thin to me.

this organization is making a huge mistake because seeing someone sketching a piece brings the museum experience to life, elevating it above a lifeless and sterile stroll through a gallery.

this list is not at all comprehensive and several of these had to be done more than once a year. every single year. the solution the government came up with is to have a web based briefing with a test. these are time consuming and not necessarily well written and they keep the workforce from focusing on their mission (say, killing terrorists).

it was not at all uncommon to have someone print out and distribute the web based test with the correct answers circled so the mind numbing task of taking training one has had countless times in the past could be quickly dispatched.

the problem is that while all of this is actually important for most people in the workforce to be trained up on, the sheer volume and low quality of the training materials very understandably causes everyone involved not to take it seriously. the alternative to the web based training is to have everyone sit in a physical briefing while the junior person on the totem pole gives a canned power point presentation presentation, usually without any real enthusiasm. at least with the web based approach one can fit it in when it is convenient.

this doesn't even get into the problems that arise when your flash isn't up to date or you are using firefox and the training won't work. or you are using a mac and the training uses some active-x extension and then you have to figure out why you can't take the VERY IMPORTANT training that everybody must complete by close of business or higher ups will be very displeased.

i have no idea how to solve this but as time marches on, more and more training requirements are added on.

Re: Note to Tom Petty

let me second this! the correct thing for an artist to do when a politician they disagree with wants to use one of their songs is to write a scathing parody. artists, try to reinforce the association between the candidate and your hilarious satirical version of your song.

too bad there is no shortage of anonymous cowards eager to step up to the plate to defend the republican party. i thought that the revulsion i felt for the republican party was the product of an enlightened upbringing and strong critical thinking skills, but now i see i am a victim of the mainstream media.

swipe

i just played with a new android phone that has 'swipe technology' where instead of tapping each character you drag your finger and paint from letter to letter. it sounds weird but it works really well. you do not need to be all that accurate as it is really going off of the shape of the swipe more than the exact key you 'hit'

i'd be interested to read the constitutional authority cited to implement this as now all bills (at least in the house) are supposed to include an explicit reference to the part of the constitution that empowers congress to implement it.

looks like financial reform is working to me

the difficulty seems to be that the problem with financial reform is that it prevents business as usual? don't worry, the banks and the ratings agencies will work out how to sell derivatives, they are highly motivated. they may try to hold up the economy instead of changing but you don't seem to have any difficulty calling out the record labels on that score.

i'm puzzled by your take on the 'opinions' rendered by the rating agencies. suppose you were to consult an attorney who then gave you really (really really) bad advice. do you think she should be able to hide behind the fig leaf of calling that her opinion?